Last week I wrote about Painful vs Persuasive Presentations. In it I listed ten things not to do as a presenter. I was complaining about the quality of presentations at a conference I had been to recently. I stated that the messages themselves were not bad, just the presentation.

But when is the last time you listened to a presentation where the message they were delivering did not land with you? Probably not that long ago. It can be for various reasons, it might have been relevant to others, just not to you. Or, it could simply have been the presenter sending a message that no one wanted to listen to.

Where I am going with this is that sometimes your message does not land because your message is simply not what is important to them right now. It’s important to you, but not them.

I was given a great example of this in a blog from one of my mentors, Peter Cook, CEO of Thought Leaders Business School. In his blog this week he makes this point via a story about his three-year old.

I encourage you to read it and to also see the value of storytelling when looking to influence. See how the combination of message and story are so much more powerful than just message plus explanation.

If you are not using storytelling when advising and influencing others, you are missing out.